Destroyed mother ship was recently hijacked Thai trawler

How long does it take Somali pirates to transform a captured fishing vessel into a mother ship? Apparently, not long.

The mother ship encountered by the Indian frigate Tabar on the evening of November 18, then destroyed, was apparently the Thai fishing vessel Ekawat Nava 5 that had been seized by pirates earlier that day. You can read the BBC report HERE.

According to the Indian Government's DDI News, the Indian Navy said it is "convinced" that it had acted against a pirate ship on the high seas.

The Navy said its warship INS Tabar had taken action against the ship only after being fired at by the pirates on board the vessel.

"As far as we are concerned, we acted against a pirate ship on the high seas," Navy spokesman Nirad Sinha said in New Delhi today.

Giving details of the operation, the spokesman said the Naval officers on board the INS Tabar had detected a suspect ship on the high seas and asked it to stop.

"It, however, continued to move while threatening to blow up the Tabar," Sinha said.

"We observed people with guns on the deck. They kept threatening us and fired. Our action was in response to their firing," the spokesman said.

"The kind of explosives and ammunition, which was there on the vessel, proved that it was held by the pirate," he said, adding "we are convinced that we acted against pirates on high seas".

On reports that there were about 14 people on board who had died, the spokesman said the INS Tabar found no bodies.